Democracy Now! has long covered the issue of climate change. We reported from the U.N. Climate Change Conferences in Warsaw, Doha, Durban, Cancún, and Copenhagen, and from the World Peoples’ Summit on Climate Change hosted by Bolivia. We’ve interviewed many of the world’s top scientists, writers, policy makers, activists, indigenous leaders and academics on the issue. We continue to follow the environmental movements to directly confront the root causes of global warming, and to advocate for climate justice, and sustainable alternatives.

Bill McKibben of 350.org and Clayton Thomas-Muller of the Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign spoke out on Monday night at a vigil at Union Square in New York City against the Keystone XL oil pipeline. It was one of 200 vigils held in response to last week’s State Department ruling claiming the pipeline’s northern leg would have a minimal impact on the local environment and climate change. [includes rush transcript]

A long-awaited report from the State Department has dealt a potential major blow to efforts to stop the Keystone XL oil pipeline. An impact assessment released Friday says the pipeline’s northern leg would not have a major impact on climate change. In a speech last year, President Obama said his approval of the project will be contingent upon assuring it "does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution." The...

In one of the latest revelations based on the leaks of Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency spied on foreign governments before and during the 2009 U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen. An internal NSA document says its analysts and foreign partners briefed U.S. negotiators on other countries’ "preparations and goals," saying, "signals intelligence will undoubtedly play a significant role in keeping our negotiators as...

Three environmentalists have just been convicted for their role in nonviolently protesting the construction of tar sands pipelines in Michigan. Last summer, they tied themselves to excavators at an Enbridge Inc. construction site to stall work on a pipeline that had ruptured in 2010 and dumped about 800,000 gallons of crude oil into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River. On Friday, the protesters — Barbara Carter, Vicci Hamlin and Lisa...

A new survey of global climate change coverage in 2013 has found a 30 percent increase in the number of mainstream news articles and editorials on the topic. The website The Daily Climate compiles such stories on a daily basis, and their results showed that for the first time since 2009 there was an increase in global warming reporting. Some 24,000 reports were filed on the topic last year compared to about 18,000 the year before, in 2012....

Record cold temperatures are being recorded across the Midwest and Eastern United States again today as a so-called polar vortex of dense, frigid air has descended as far south as Texas and Florida. According to the National Weather Service, temperatures are 20 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit below average in parts of Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nebraska. In Brimson, Minnesota, the temperature fell to...

The Washington Post and the Center for Responsive Politics have just published an exposé revealing how a labyrinth of 17 tax-exempt groups and limited liability companies tied to the billionaire Koch Brothers raised at least $407 million during the 2012 campaign. The staggering amount is equivalent to the combined spending of all unions in state, federal and local races — it dwarfs nearly all other sources of political spending in 2012....

Today we look back at 2013. It was a historic year. Edward Snowden exposed how the National Security Agency had built a worldwide surveillance apparatus, while Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years in jail for leaking U.S. secret documents to WikiLeaks. Pope Francis urged the world to address economic inequality, warning about the tyranny of unfettered capitalism. Tens of thousands were killed in Syria, with many more displaced. The...

On the last day of 2013, we look back on some of the many signs of hope that emerged on issues ranging from economic equality to LGBT rights to climate justice. With all the bad news that came this year, there were many encouraging displays of a shifting public consciousness and a willingness by ordinary people to mobilize for change. We are joined by Sarah van Gelder, co-founder and editor-in-chief of YES! Magazine, whose latest article is...

Amidst international criticism of Russia’s human rights crackdown ahead of the 2014 Sochi Winter Games, the country’s parliament has approved a mass amnesty for as many as 22,000 prisoners. The move is officially meant to mark the 20th anniversary of the passage of Russia’s post-Soviet constitution. Among the tens of thousands set to be released are the Arctic 30, members of Greenpeace who were arrested in September after...